St. John s United Church Sunday Service October 16th, 2016 Scripture: Psalm 146 Reader: Lynn Erskine Reflection: Rev.

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1 St. John s United Church Sunday Service October 16th, 2016 Scripture: Psalm 146 Reader: Lynn Erskine Reflection: Rev. Karen Verveda SCRIPTURE READING: Psalm Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul! 2 I will praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long. 3 Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help. 4 When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish. 5 Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God, 6 who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith for ever; 7 who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free; 8 the LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous. 9 The LORD watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. 10 The LORD will reign for ever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD! REFLECTION: This week we began our fall Dinner & Discussion series, Living the Questions 2.0. Those who gathered joked a bit about feeling good that maybe we were ready 1

2 to move beyond Theology for Dummies or Theology 101! Living the Questions 2.0 makes it sound like we re making progress. We shared a meal and from there we plunged into a conversation about the Christian tradition, about questions and answers, about certainty and not knowing, and we were reminded or introduced to the idea that the invitation to follow Jesus is an invitation to open ourselves to a journey of Living with Life s big Questions. And if we have any doubts about whether following Jesus is about living with questions, today s lectionary reading from Luke s gospel reminds us Jesus sure knows how to ask a question. This one is definitely a whopper! And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? Today as we open ourselves to Jesus parable we have the opportunity to allow this question to land and take root in us and see where it leads us. The heart of today s parable is the battle between the widow and the judge. In both the Old and New Testaments, widows were those who were powerless, often the victims of injustice. Widows in first-century Palestine had little recourse to fight the injustices they experienced in life. They received little attention or respect, and were barely able to survive on their paltry resources. We know from historical studies that widows in Jesus time were not just women grieving their dead spouses; they were uneducated outcasts, bereft of name, land, wealth and recognition. They were not seen as productive or important members of society; in fact, they often were denied even basic membership in society, relegated to the edges of civilization along with orphans (who, likewise, had no family name, education, land or wealth), the homeless and those with contagious diseases. In Jesus day widows were women whose prayers begged for God s presence, God s justice, God s compassion. And Jesus tells this parable to those who know about such prayers. As a Mediterranean Jewish peasant Jesus is speaking to other peasants who know the dangers of living in occupied country amidst potentially explosive circumstances of an economy booming for the upper urban classes through increasing indebtedness, land expropriation and destitution on the part of the rural lower classes. Jesus also knows that prayers like these can wear our hearts right out, if we re not careful especially when there is no sign that God has heard, much less answered, our prayer. We can only knock so long at a closed door before our hands hurt too much to go on. We can only listen to yourself speak into the silence so long before we start to wonder if anyone was ever there. When that happens when the pain and the doubt gang up on us to the point that we start feeling dead inside then it s time to get some help, 2

3 because we are losing heart. That is the phrase Jesus uses, and he doesn t want it happening to any of his followers. That s why Jesus tells the disciples this parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. Barbara Brown Taylor, one of my favourite preachers, tells a story about losing heart. The family had gathered for her granddaughter Madeline s seventh birthday. She describes singing happy birthday and noticing Madeline watching the candles on her cake burn down and then leaning over to blow them out without making a wish. Aren t you going to make a wish? her mother asked. You have to make a wish, her grandfather said. Barbara says Madeline looked as if someone had just run over her cat. I don t know why I keep doing this, she said to no one in particular. Doing what? Barbara asked This wishing thing, she said, looking at the empty chair at the table. Last year I wished my best friend wouldn t move way but she did. This year I want to wish that my mommy and daddy will get back together That s not going to happen, her mother said, so don t waste your wish on that. I know it s not going to happen, Madeline said, so why do I keep doing this? Jesus parable is written to disciples who are asking Madeline s question Why do we keep doing this? Things are not going well in the prayer department. The disciples want God to make clear to everyone that Jesus is who they think he is, but instead there are warrants out for his arrest and he is even telling them that his place at the table will soon be empty. By the time Luke writes it all down years later, things have gotten even worse. Rome is standing over Jerusalem like a vulture over a corpse and there is no sign of the kingdom coming anytime soon. Jesus had said he would be right back, only he was not back. People are losing heart, so Luke repeats the story that Jesus had told, about the wronged widow who would not stop pleading her case. Luke doesn t say what her complaint is about, but it is not hard to guess about what it might be. Since she is a widow, her case probably concerns her dead husband s estate. Under Jewish law she can t inherit it it goes straight to her sons and her brothers-in law but she is allowed to live off of it, unless someone is trying to cheat her out of it. The fact that she is standing alone in the street is a pretty good indicator that none of the men in the family is on her side. If she had any protectors left, they would have kept her home and gone about things in a more civilized manner. No son wants his mother dealing with family business in the street. No brother-in-law wants his brother s widow disgracing the family name. While no one seems to have this widow s back, as the judge soon finds out, she is quite capable of taking care of herself. 3

4 This is not a respectable judge, remember. By his own admission, he has no fear of God or respect for anyone. Maybe he thinks that makes him a better judge more impartial and all that or maybe he has sat on the bench long enough to know how complicated justice really is. However it happened, he is very well-defended God does not get to him and people do not get to him. But this widow gets to him, at least partially because she throws a mean right punch. We can t hear the humour in this parable in the English translation, but in Luke s Greek version, the judge uses a boxing term for the widow. Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, he says, yet because this widow keeps working me over, I will grant her justice, so that she may not blacken my eye with her continued blows. It seems his motivation in responding to her is not justice but vanity. He doesn t want to walk around town with a black eye and have to make up a story about how he got it. Anyone who has seen the widow hounding him nipping at him will know where he got it. Since he can t stand that idea, he grants her justice to save face. Listen to what the unjust judge says, Jesus says to his disciples. And this is the part he wants his followers to pay attention to. Won t God do the same for you? If you too cry out both day and night, will God delay long in helping you too? He wants his disciples to focus on the widow to focus on how, when the widow found herself all alone without anyone to help her, she didn t lose heart. She knew what she wanted and she knew who could give it to her. Whether he gave it or not was beyond her control, but that did not matter to her. She was willing to say what she wanted out loud, day and night, over and over whether she got it or not, because saying it was how she remembered who she was. It was how she remembered the shape of her heart, and while there may have been plenty of people who were embarrassed by her or felt sorry for her for exposing herself like that it didn t stop her. She would never have believed it herself how exhilarating it is to stop trying to phrase things the right way, to stop acting grateful for whatever scraps life dropped on her plate. There are no words for the relief she felt when she finally threw off her shame, her caution, her self-control and went straight to the source to say exactly what she needed. She did not know she could roar until she heard herself do it. Give me justice! She yells at the judge. Do your job! Answer me now or answer me later, but I am coming back every days and every night forever until you grant me justice. And then Jesus asks his question: And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? It makes me wonder if Jesus didn t know too many persistent widows, or at least not enough of them. I m not sure any of us know too many people with the faith to stay at anything forever. 4

5 Even those of us who are invested in our prayers can be easily discouraged. We might hang in there for a while, but when our prayers seemed to go unanswered we back off a little or a lot either by deciding not to ask so much or by deciding not to ask at all. Superficial prayers turn out to be less painful than prayers from the heart, and no prayers turn out to be the least hurtful of all. Don t ask and you won t be disappointed. Don t seek and you won t miss what you don t find. As for that growing deadness you feel where your heart used to be, well, you will just have to get used to that. But what Jesus knows and what the persistent widow knows is that the most important time to pray is when our prayers seem meaningless. If we don t go throw a few punches at the judge, what are we going to do? Take to our beds with a box of Kleenex? Forget about justice altogether? No. Day by day by day, we need to get up, wash our face, and go ask for what we need. We have to trust the process, regardless of what comes of it, because participation in the process gives us life. Participation in the process keeps us engaged with what matters most to us, so we do not lose heart Jesus says Take heart, even from the behaviour of a corrupt judge who has no respect for anyone! If a corrupt judge grants justice will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry day and night. There is only one other use of the term chosen one in Luke. In chapter 23, Jesus on the cross is mocked by the religious leaders as God s chosen one. And the chosen one on the cross cries out as the chosen ones are said to cry out here, day and night. Crying out with a loud voice, Jesus commends his spirit to God just before he breathes his last. And this chosen one gives us perhaps the best picture of God s justice. God does not delay long -- three days only -- before granting justice to that vulnerable one who prays from the cross. Life is what God grants as God judgment on all unjust judgments. In the end, Life is God s answer, God s justice. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? This question reaches beyond the cross and the tomb and the resurrection into the future: finding us here, as we gather for worship. On the Sabbath Day this parable reminds us as followers of Christ that we too are called to be engaged with the struggles, with the poverty, with all that makes people cry out for justice in our world. We also remember that we can ask what we need on this journey. What do we need to sustain us? How can we help sustain each other? I want to share a video. Listen as Zianna Oliphant, a young girl from Charlotte, NC, speaks to Charlotte City Council after the shooting death of Keith Lamont Scott by police this past September. She is a modern day widow. Notice her cries but also notice how she is sustained in her crying. 5

6 Jesus offers today s parable to sustain those who are crying for justice, it is a word of hope, as affirmation of a God who cares, even though God s Kingdom does not come speedily. He knows we need each other, need supportive communities, to sustain us in our crying for justice, that we might not lose heart. And as followers of Jesus we too can help sustain each other. In fact, on World Food Day we have a particular opportunity to remember and to support those who are crying out for justice. We have the opportunity to celebrate 71 years of faith, of a certain cry for justice, the cry for enough food to eat. World Food Day was first celebrated on October 16, 1945 to commemorate the founding of the UN s Food & Agriculture Organization whose goal is to free humanity from hunger and malnutrition, and to effectively manage the global food system. While significant gains have been made in reducing the number of hungry people one in nine people are still hungry (around 800 million); and 10-20% more people could face increased hunger due to the impact of climate change; and Canada s support for agricultural development has dropped by 30% over the last five years. This is why the Canadian Food Grains Bank (which is a partnership of 15 church and church-based agencies representing 30 denominations, including The United Church of Canada, who are working together to end global hunger) is celebrating UN World Food Day by launching its Good Soil Campaign. This year s campaign is focused on the significant opportunity we have to reduce global hunger by increasing support for small-scale farmers. The Canadian Food Grains Bank has put together a proposal they are calling Agriculture For Clean & Inclusive Economic Growth recommending that Canada make a signature investment of $2.5 billion over five years to support sustainable agriculture and climate change adaptation for small-scale farmers, especially women. The reason for this focus on small-scale farmers is that they make up the vast majority of farmers in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and many are women. With some support from aid donors and their own governments, small-scale farmers can improve their own food security, and produce more food to sell. The right kind of investments can lead to sustained economic growth, empower women, enable families to improve nutrition, and equip farmers to adapt to a changing climate The Canadian Food Grains Bank suggests that through appropriate aid investments in sustainable agriculture, Canada can stimulate clean and inclusive economic growth and take immediate action on climate change. And their proposal is being supported by more than 40 other key organizations and individuals including 4-H Canada, Mennonite Central Committee Canada, Oxfam Canada, and World Vision Canada. 6

7 I encourage you to go online today, google The Canadian Food Grains Bank, and check out the letter writing campaign. As we think about Jesus question, as we think about prayers and faith, and justice, and not losing heart as we let this question live in us may it lead us to opening ourselves to becoming the living body of Christ in our day, supporting contemporary widows in their faithfulness, becoming faithful in our own crying for justice. May it be so. Amen. 7